In many office environments, a large amount of the correspondence is done through letters. As a result, in every working day businesses and firms receive a large amount of mail which is often opened using a conventional letter opener. As there are often such large amounts of envelopes to be opened, this can become a time consuming process.
Two fundamental problems exist in attempting to devise a more efficient device for opening letters. Firstly, it is imperative that the contents are in no way damaged as the envelope is opened and therefore it is preferable that the envelope is opened by making a cut at the edge of the envelope or very close to the edge. The second problem associated with opening envelopes is that paper is a particularly fibrous material which makes it very difficult to cut when the paper is not in tension.
The traditional or knife like letter opener is able to overcome these two fundamental problems because the cutting blade of the letter opener is inserted into the envelope. The envelope is then opened by pulling the blade along an edge of the envelope thereby putting the paper at the edge in tension thus making it easier to cut. The problem with this method is that it cannot be done in a single action as the blade has to be carefully inserted then pulled.
A more efficient action to open an envelope would be if a fine sliver could be effectively guillotined off the edge of the envelope However, problems still exist with using a guillotine in that it is almost impossible to cut a very fine sliver of the edge of the envelope without first carefully lining up the envelope underneath the guillotine. Also, the paper has a tendency to buckle between the cooperating blades of the guillotine unless the blades are extremely accurately positioned as the paper at the cutting edge is not in tension.